1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for the removal of particulate matter and organic vapors from pyrolytic off-gases. More specifically, it relates to a method and apparatus in which the pyrolytic off-gases are recycled through a rotary recycling device.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
The pyrolytic treatment of organic substances, such as the pyrolytic treatment of heavy oil to produce gasoline, is well known. It is also well known that a pyrolytic process produces an organic off-gas which can be used as a feed stock, for chemical synthesis or as a fuel in a burner. However, the pyrolytic off-gas tends to include significant amounts of particulate solid matter and organic vapors which make the off-gas unsuitable as a fuel in devices which are sensitive to fuel impurities and which also cause undesirable emissions to the atmosphere during combustion.
Efforts have been made in the past to clean the particulate matter and organic vapors from pyrolytic off-gases. Such methods have included the use of cyclones, condensers, filters and scrubbers. However, these methods included serious disadvantages and drawbacks such as incomplete cleaning of the gas, poor product recovery, duct fires, clogging of small orifices and tubes by tars and solids and thermal damage to the pyrolytic oils resulting from the relative long residence times required for condensation in passive devices. The inability to overcome these problems has caused several research institutions to abandon pyrolysis research and has contributed to the failure of several highly publicized demonstration projects.